Simon Girty

Simon Girty (14 November 1741-18 February 1818), nicknamed "the White Savage", was a Tory leader during the American Revolutionary War. Raised by the Seneca tribe, Girty and his brother were fully assimilated into the tribe, and Girty served as the liaison between Great Britain and the Seneca during the war against the patriots.

Biography
Simon Girty was born on 14 November 1741 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to a Scots-Irish family that had arrived in North America in 1730. Girty's father was killed in a duel, and the family's farm was encroached upon by other estate owners; his mother remarried to a man named John Turner. Girty served in the militia during the French and Indian War, and he was captured by the Lenape, being held until he was freed in the Kittanning Expedition on 8 September 1756; his step-father was executed by the Lenape after being accused of murdering Simon Girty the Elder to steal his estate. After the expedition, the Girty children were adopted by Indian tribes, and Girty was adopted by the Seneca tribe. From 1756 to 1764, Girty lived among the Seneca and was assimilated into the Seneca culture, but he was later freed by the British and became a frontiersman.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Girty initially decided to side with the colonists, but Girty was among the many Scots-Irish settlers who decided to side with the Tories during the war. Girty had helped the patriots under Edward Hand in a 1778 expedition to the Cuyahoga River in Ohio, destroying Indian stores and supplies. However, the unification of the Indian tribes against the Americans led to Girty, Alexander McKee, and Matthew Elliott defecting to the Indians and fighting against the Whigs. Girty led ambushes against the patriots, including the 1782 battle of Blue Licks, the last Loyalist-Indian victory of the war. However, Girty bought the freedom of many American prisoners and saved them from execution at the hands of the Indians. During the Northwest Indian War, he fought alongside the Huron against the Americans, and he settled in Upper Canada after the war's end. Girty retired to Fort Malden shortly before the War of 1812, and his son was killed in the war. Girty had no role in the war, and he died blind at his farm in Canada in 1818.